Popular Facebook groups exclusively for women and women empowerment in Egypt

Researcher:

Research Area:

B

My dissertation seeks to explore the extent to which Facebook groups exclusively for women are perceived as communities of women empowerment in Egypt. These popular Facebook groups despite being private groups, are trendy ‘only women’ zones that discuss a variety of topics of shared interests. This exclusivity allows women to connect with each other and share their thoughts and perspectives more freely. It can be argued that these groups may not have a significant impact on affecting women’s sense of empowerment in society due to the privacy settings of these platforms. However, the rapid popularity of these Facebook groups reflected in the hundreds of members joining by the day through their family, friends or peers reflects a form of new internet based socialized communication that takes part not only in the communication flow but also I argue in the construction and reconstruction of a contemporary image of Egyptian women.

By taking on a social shaping approach to contribute to literature on new media and its form of communication, this dissertation will look at how the Egyptian women use these online groups in relation to the Egyptian context, and the extent to which is has become embedded in their everyday life.